


Monsters Had Ceased to be News

by harmonyfb



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:17:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2548883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmonyfb/pseuds/harmonyfb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Pepperlandgirl, set in Season 5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monsters Had Ceased to be News

Angel could see the light spilling out from under the door. He couldn’t sleep himself – switching the habits of several lifetimes meant that his body still wanted to rise at night and sleep all day. So a couple of nights a week, minimum, he walked the halls of Wolfram & Hart like…well, like a vampire.

Since Fred had died, Wes spent more and more time there, his head stuck in books - like that would bring her back. Always, he drank. Sometimes, he cried. And every night, Angel tiptoed past the door and tried to pretend like the whole thing wasn’t his fault in the first place.

Tonight, his office was silent. Too silent. There were no rustling pages or smothered sobs or clinking ice cubes, just ragged breath muffled by thick carpets and heavy doors. With a moment’s hesitation, he rapped on the door and stuck his head inside.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Wesley passed a shaking hand over his face, grey and unshaven. “Just finishing up some work.”

“I couldn’t sleep, so--” He gestured helplessly.

“Right. I imagine it’s difficult to change one’s habits.”

“Yeah. Why don’t you get some sleep, Wes? You look…” Angel didn’t have to say. They both knew how Wesley looked these days.

Wes held up the textbook he was working on. “Old habits.”

“Ah.” Angel hovered at the door, caught between another’s pain and his own. Wes smiled, a ghost of all that had ever passed between them. Old habits die very hard.


End file.
